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Saturday, 16 November 2013

With a thumping innings and 26-run victory over West Indies to seal the Test series 2-0, Team India bid farewell to the batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar in the batsman’s 200th and final Test, at Wankhede Stadium. When the Little Master, wearing the floppy hat, stepped on the field for one last day at the office, he was welcomed with a thunderous applause on his home ground. (Also Read: Sachin Tendulkar’s Emotional Farewell Speech: 200th Test)

The cricket fans’ anxiety and their unwillingness to let go was evident as they cheered the West Indies run-making, because it meant that they could watch their icon in action that much longer. Trailing by 270 runs, the visitors resumed their innings on 43 for three on the third day. Chris Gayle smacked Ravichandran Ashwin for three boundaries in the third over of the day and collected a single, while Marlon Samuels too picked a boundary off the last ball to help collect 17 runs from it. But that was the only bright spot of the morning for the West Indies innings as couple of overs later Samuels, while coming down the track to take on Ojha, was stumped.

In the left-arm spinner’s next over, Gayle launched him over long-on, but in Ojha’s following over the burly opener, while attempting to cut the ball, only managed to edge it to the wicketkeeper, leaving the visitors on 87 for five. Narsingh Deonarine was the next to depart an over later. He scooped the ball back to Ojha and became the bowler’s fourth scalp in the innings.

Denesh Ramdin joined the experienced campaigner Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the duo stitched together a 68-run partnership, until Ashwin sent back the latter. Trapped leg-before by the Indian off-spinner in his 150th Test, Chandepaul’s innings was halted for 41. Five runs later, Ojha claimed his fifth wicket of the innings. With his arm ball the bowler claimed the West Indies captain lbw to take his wicket tally in the game to 10. It was Ojha’s first 10-wicket haul in Test cricket.

And with victory just a couple of wickets away, MS Dhoni handed the ball to Sachin Tendulkar, who conceded only a single in the over.

With the session extended, Ashwin replaced Tendulkar and sent back Shane Shillingford. The lower-order batsman, while looking to sweep the delivery, was struck on the thigh and was trapped leg-before wicket. An over later, Mohammed Shami, replacing Ashwin, ran in and uprooted Shannon Gabriel’s middle stump to bring the curtains down on the historic Test match, which marks the end of the era of one of cricket’s greatest treasures.

Dhoni: "I think it is a complete performance from the side. We played fantastically and we showed real character when it got tough. The batsmen played really well and the bowlers did the job when they needed to. I think Shami gave us the edge that we needed, particularly in his first Test match and that helped our morale. Our batsmen clicked in this series and did superbly. This is probably one of the biggest matches in Indian history for obvious reasons. I would just like to say thank you to Sachin for all he has done during his career."

Sammy: "It's a shame how we've played. It has been a bit embarassing to be honest and I am sorry we have robbed the Indian crowd of seeing more of their hero. I would just like to say that it has been an honour to play in this Test and it has been something to remember. We have plenty to learn from this tour, we can look to how Indian batted so well, particularly the likes of Rohit. It's been a good learning experience and we have lots to look forward to."